Weapons amnesty after nine stabbings and 30 arrests at one concert in Dublin

Laser show at Swedish House Mafia gig at Phoenix Park where nine people were stabbed and three people are believed to have overdosed
Photo by: Google images

With the country still reeling from the shocking series of stabbings at a music concert in Dublin at the weekend, Dublin Labour Councillor Steve Wrenn has indicated he's prepared to organize a weapons amnesty with or without the support of Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Wrenn told The Journal he has written to the Justice minister to ask him to support a non-police administered amnesty where people can hand in knives, guns, and pipe bombs in several designated areas around Dublin city and the rest of the country.

Wrenn said he had been contemplating the amnesty move for some time but the events at the concert in the Phoenix Park at the weekend, which he had personally attended, had given him a 'bad feeling”' about what he saw.

Young people need to be educated about the consequences of carrying knives, he told the Journal, which is an arrestable offense in the Republic with a penalty of five years in prison.

A knife amnesty would involve youth workers acting as middle men to collect the weapons Wrenn said, it would also give them an opportunity to meet with potentially wayward young people and provide them with information and intervention in the form of youth clubs and youth organizations.

Wrenn told the Journal he had written to concert promoters MCD asking them to financially support the initiative, and he has also approached the Irish police to show their support by 'backing off' and allowing independent parties to receive the surrendered weapons.

Wrenn said that he will go ahead with the amnesty over the August Bank Holiday weekend whether he has the support of the justice minister or not.

Nine people were stabbed at the music concert that featured Swedish House Mafia, Snoop Dogg, Calvin Harris and Tinie Tempah. One man has been arrested and charged over a number of incidents.